Left to right: Kim Orloff (baritone), Jerry Orloff (bass), Brian Beck (lead), Holly Beck (tenor)
Teach Barbershop Singing in Shijiazhuang, April 12-15, 2001
(Last modified: $Date: 2002/05/08 15:33:13 $)
These four singers have known each other for 20 years, meeting in most years at SPEBSQSA International Conventions and competitions. The Orloffs have sung together in the MHBQA quartet "Mixed Metafour" for nearly 20 years; the Becks have sung together in the MHBQA quartet "Kindred Spirits" for over 10 years (as well as individually in a few other rather well-known quartets!) When Global Music Exchange received a request from the Governor of China's Hebei Province (the area surrounding Beijing), asking if they had some barbershop musician friends who could teach the Province's retiree mixed choirs how to sing in the barbershop style, Global Music Exchange CEO Edward Pio turned to his barbershop travel partners Kim and Jerry Orloff. Orloff. The Orloffs immediately thought of the Becks, not only as members of an outstanding mixed quartet but as two of the best teachers of any kind in barbershop harmony. In July of 2000 the work began to create a special teaching quartet to meet the need in Hebei Province, commuting between Texas and California for infrequent but intensive weekend rehearsals. Thus was born the Hao Yu Chi Singers (technically, the correct spelling in pinyin is actually hao yun qi - it means "good luck.") Fruition came in April of 2001 with the teaching trip to Shijiazhuang:
(report taken from MHBQA Irregular Newsletter #26, dated 5/25/01)
The teaching trip to China was absolutely incredible! It was an intensive week of sharing music, but there was plenty of time for shared laughter and the building of friendships. Two things left a stronger impression than even our visit to the Great Wall: (1) the cheerful and open friendliness of the Chinese people, whether strangers on the street or singers in our classes, and (2) the professional attitude and musical ability possessed by the singers with whom we worked. About halfway through the four days of class sessions, I realized that - even with the intense concentration they were putting into learning the notes, the harmony tuning, and the words in a foreign language (as we taught Heart of My Heart) - they always seemed to know where the pitch center was, and stayed in tune. And when they performed on their own... well, their phrase endings, energized phrases, etc. would have brought a smile to any coach's face. Not that they were perfect - there was still plenty of room for improvement - but they were aware of singing techniques, and took them seriously! And boy, did they focus and work! At every break, each member of the quartet was always surrounded: "sing this part into my tape recorder?" "how does this go?" and so on.One really exciting thing was the reception that was given everywhere to our quartet's barbershop singing. We had the chance to sing our various songs in many places. Favorites of course were the two Chinese folk songs that Brian had arranged into barbershop style (we sang them in Chinese, of course!) Everone in every audience knew them, and often began to clap along in rhythm. The dinner crowd applauded with delight when we sang a Chinese folk song over the mics at a restaurant, but there was equal applause for our "Hi Neighbor" and "Hello Mary Lou." Everywhere we sang, people got excited when we reached the really chord-busting progressions in "Hi Neighbor." We got to test the acoustics by singing on the stage of the Great Hall of Shijiazhuang, a 3000-seat theater where our tour chorus will be performing in November. The stage crew and theater staff who were around, especially Miss Wong (the theater manager), went crazy! We surprised them by singing something they had known from their own childhood... and in Chinese! And yes, even at 7:30 am in an open square, out for some early morning tai chi (exercise), when we sang for several new aquaintances there was suddenly a very enthusiastic crowd.
The best reception of all, however, was from the singers we had gone over to teach. We had expected to be teaching a mixed group of choral directors and music educators from all over the area. Instead, since many of the choral directors also sang in a champion choral group in Shijiazhuang, that group was selected to be the core of our students. There were others who also came to the classes, but the majority were all members of the Seniors Chorus of Hebei Province. That chorus is the current chorus champion of the Province, as well as the current National silver medalists. They were not yet ready to split into an all-men and all-women's chorus, but they definitely have the ability to be an excellent small men's barbershop chorus and an excellent small Sweet Adelines chorus.
We began our teaching with a morning planning session involving their primary chorus director, assistant directors, chorus managers, and section leaders... essentially, the "music staff." Seated across from them at a huge horseshoe table, with our interpreter and "support staff" from the Hebei Province Tourism Bureau, we felt like we were participating in a session at the United Nations! Welcoming speeches and courtesy abounded. Our primary spokesman was Ed Pio, the owner of Global Music Exchange and our "sponsor." Ed has been in other sessions like this down through the years (both pre-planning trips, and actual performing trips), involving the various jazz groups he has brought to China, and the high school band "parade" he had brought just the month before. Ed was not only our sponsor in the financial sense, but also in the much more important "who you know" sense, introducing us to his friends and aquaintances as "persons of consequence who can be trusted." It should be noted that while the Hebei Provincial governement and the Tourism Bureau picked up the tab for the hosting (meals, auto transport and housing), Ed paid the majority of the quartet's bills, including our airfare to and from China, and our airfare for all the Texas/California commuting for rehearsals. He really BELIEVES in getting the Chinese people exposed to barbershop harmony!
We were in Ed's capable hands for most of the initial meeting... until the Hebei Chorus music leaders asked for specifics. Just what IS this type of music, and how are you planning to teach it to our singers??? Then the four of us were center stage. Brian gave a brief analysis of a cappella singing in the barbershop style (it is VERY hard to remember to wait every few sentences for your interpreter!) Then, to demonstrate what we were going to teach, we sang the two familiar Chinese folk songs in Brian's barbershop arrangement. To our amazement, they immediately picked up on what they heard - the melody not on top, the harmony tightly interwoven around the melody - and were quite delighted with it. We didn't even need the interpreter to understand those hand gestures that indicated the interwoven tight harmonies!
We then tried to get them singing each part. That's when we discovered that while some of them could read our style of music notation, the great majority of them used another method! YIKES! That was the first of many times we all thanked Providence for Brian Beck's incredible musical knowledge and ability to think on his feet. The music that they read is written in the do-re-mi style, with any note in your part that is on "do" being written as "1" (re=2, me=3, etc, sharps & flats plus a system of dots & lines to indicate timing; no staff lines.) Once he saw a sheet of their music, Brian nodded - he understood it, and could have written the arrangements in that format had he known. We looked at each other, decided not to panic, and Brian switched gears to teach the parts by rote, mentally converting as he went along, even singing the do-re-me vowel as he sang the notes of the part. They learned a few lines, and got the idea... and then we broke for lunch (a MOST important part of the day, almost as important as DINNER!)
After lunch, at the first class with the full chorus, Brian taught the first hour without music while their chorus director (who is also a well known arranger) did a quick "translation" from our staff music notes to their notation format for the barbershop songs we'd brought to teach. There was vast relief among both teachers and students when those copies appeared after the break!
The teaching went well, even though we were working via translation. The chorus members seemed to understand our principles of voicing, and we split them fairly easily into appropriate parts. It took only a few reminders from Holly to convince her soprano/barbershop tenors that they no longer had the melody. We never did hear a problem with vibrato. The rich and accurate low women's voices that made up our baritone section would have any Sweet Adelines bass section leader drooling. The lead part was sung by about half men and half women (since in this mixed chorus it was the typical 1/3 men, 2/3 women), and they caught on quickly to barbershop- style lead singing. The men in Jerry's bass section had just the perfect resonance for barbershop, and seemed to really enjoy it. No big problems cropped up in vocal production, support, phrase endings, etc... they just need more coaching in bringing out the best in the barbershop style. (I'm not sure that many really understood the difference yet, about just what it is in the arrangement that makes those ringing chords possible.) But we'll be back! The most impressive, though, was that - even though they were learning new music (and in a foreign language, yet!), they did NOT go flat, even at the end of a 3-hour session. Now THAT was awesome!
In teaching them the three songs, we mentioned the points of barbershop style along the way, hoping that the actual experience of singing barbershop chords and ringing a few overtones would communicate more about our style of singing than any amount of theory. They learned "Heart of My Heart" (in English), "Jasmine Flower" (in Chinese, Brian's arrangment of a well-known Chinese folk song), and "Rainbow Sister" (also in Chinese, another Brian Beck arrangment of a Chinese children's song.) At the end of the final session, they were really enjoying singing these, and doing well with them. Their focused energy and enthusiasm was contagious - it was like working with an American barbershop chorus at a retreat! When we left, it was like leaving family. All of us involved are looking forward to November's reunion, when we can sing together again. (And we're bringing a chorus of 100 of our barbershop friends with us to sing, too!)
On our final day, we met with the musical leadership of the chorus to evaluate, and to make plans for the future. Again it was a United Nations style meeting, around the horseshoe table with interpreters. The Hebei Chorus music staff was pleased with the progress that all had made in this new style of music. To our delight, they pledged to include barbershop- style songs in their future a cappella repertoire, and - even better - to teach the barbershop style to other singing groups in the Province. They also expressed a desire, once they became more experienced, to "join the Organization." They were referring to the Society (SPEBSQSA), but since they are a mixed chorus... well, right now we are working on getting several of them as Frank Thorne members, and eventually will get the men and the women of the chorus to split and try singing separately - perhaps for something like the Lida Rose medley - maybe the next teaching trip!
We did two things at the final day's evaluation & planning session to encourage them to try singing all-men's and all-ladies. We left them with three pitchpipes, presented with this instruction: "One for an all- ladies quartet, one for a mixed quartet, and one for an all-men's quartet." Then, to further encourage the formation of a men's quartet, Ed Pio made the offer to pay all expenses (!) to bring one Chinese men's quartet from the chorus to the SPEBSQSA International convention in Portland in 2002. That definitely got attention... they immediately started plans to form men's quartets (including involving some of the men who had not been able to attend the classes), with later auditions and contests to select the best quartet. On our return flight, Ed also discussing with Brian and Jerry the possibilities of bringing other quartets to China (male, female, or mixed) to continue this teaching. Holly suggested that she could provide some simple women's arrangements (helps to have a mom named Renee Craig!) and learning tapes. There are already several small performing groups within the chorus (4-6 men, 4-7 women) - one women's sextet even sang "Edelweiss" for us... in English!
Another real stroke of luck was our interpreter, Li Yihu ("call me Steve"). He turned out to be an outstanding singer as well as a great interpreter. And he fell in love with the sound of barbershop... during the last two days of the classes, he not only interpreted, he also sang bass! He is now hoping to put together his own barbershop quartet, and has sent in his application to join the overseas section of the Society's Frank Thorne Chapter. Steve is too young to qualify for the Hebei Retired Workers ("Seniors") Chorus, but he hopes to sing with our American barbershop chorus on the Oct-Nov 2001 tour, as much as his interpreting duties will allow. We've already been in touch by email; he'll get the music and the learning tapes along with the rest of our chorus.
In our planning earlier this year, for the American Barbershop Chorus trip in Oct-Nov of 2001, we'd hoped to combine voices with a Chinese Chorus for a few songs on our final show. So before class one morning the quartet (plus guide and interpreter) spent several hours scouring a huge music/book store. We found songbooks which included many songs from other lands, but having lyrics in Chinese. (Some of the songs we'd even heard playing over the sound systems in lobbies and restaurants... hey, Steve... why are they playing Auld Lang Syne???) It turns out that those songs are often a part of their elementary school curriculum (much like Waltzing Matilda and Frere Jacques were, before they dropped music in the U.S. schools), and some of them have become perennial favorites. So we thought - why not learn these? The Hebei Chorus music staff thought it was a great idea, and the plans are now laid. Each chorus director (Chinese and American) rwill have two songs to direct with the combined choruses on the risers - that will probably be nearly 200 voices. Brian is currently working on special arrangments and learning tapes in both Chinese and English, for the following songs: Edelweiss, Red River Valley, Jingle Bells, and... of course for our finale, Auld Lang Syne.
Before we left for China, some of our family and friends were worried. The spy-plane incident had just happened, and according to the papers there were swords rattling and things were dangerous... the fliers were still being detained when our plane landed in Beijing. But we found out once we landed that - over there - it was a non-issue. Unlike our papers in the USA, it had been front-page news in China for one day (the day of the incident and the emergency landing), and then it became relegated to the insided pages of the newspaper, and secondary items on the TV news broadcasts. People generally knew the facts about what had happened, it just didn't appear to be that important in their general lives. The situation was usually dismissed as "oh, politics. They'll go home as soon as the old cadre finds a way to save face." Wow - culture supercedes politics! (The fliers were released to fly home on our second day of the classes we taught - our driver told us on the way to class.)
What WAS important to everyone that we met was that they had the opportunity to share with us a China that they are very proud of... and justifiably so. It is a first-world country, definitely not third-world. As invited guest teachers we were really treated as VIPs. As Holly put it, "It's NICE being Emperor!" It was dinner as the Mayor's guests, lunch with the director of the country's top military band, other banquets that meld into memory as one giant feast. It is - without qualification - the best food that I have EVER eaten, including food on some pretty snazzy cruise ships. However, even as thoroughly hosted as we were, we were not restricted in where we went, who we saw, or who we talked to. Wuite a few of the younger ones speak English; they all study it in school, and are eager for an opportunity to practice on you! In Tienanmin Square I was wandering around alone, taking photos, and had quite a protracted conversation with a young college art student, with nobody else around. (Did he want to talk politics, or barbershop music? No... actually, he was really hoping I'd come to his art exhibition and buy a painting!)
And then there was an impromptu foray at 6:30 AM on Sunday morning (before classes), to a huge square where everyone was doing their thing to exercise. This is a tradition every morning, before breakfast, and the choices of "exercise" were surprising. There was Tai Chi, of course (with swords), a group of about 50, both men and women. A few young people on roller skates, one man flying a kite, a group of about 40 gathered around a clothesline with large sheets of paper (with words) clipped to it... singing! And then there was the dancing... different areas had different music coming from loudspeakers. There were about 200 people doing - yes - Western country line dancing! And right next to them, another 200 doing ballroom dancing! We never got past that... first Holly was asked to dance, then Ed... eventually all of us ended up out on the "dance floor." It's one of my greatest memories, right up there with walking on the Great Wall. There I was, doing the New Yorker with a Chinese gentleman at 7am on Easter morning! That day people were interested in us, to be sure, but mostly they were enjoying the glorious Spring morning, and wanted to share that joy with us.
We are still glowing with memories, and anxious for the return trip: rehearsals on the Yangtze, a show in Xi'an, singing barbershop at the Great Wall in Beijing, and just impromptu singing for many other people all along our route. We'll be enthusiastically received, especially when we break into a song in Chinese. But best of all will be our reunion and joint show in Shijiazhuang, with our new barbershop-singing friends. It was a thrill to be part of the beginning. The more we can ring those chords, the better off our world will be.
As members of MHBQA, the members of the Hao Yu Chi Singers are proud that ALL of the members of MHBQA have had a small part in making this exciting new beginning - just by being members and supporting an organization that then was available to fill a need. Thanks from the four of us to all the membership for being in this with us. Together, we'll continue to make our contributions towards world harmony... barbershop style! --Kim Orloff, bariton Hao Yu Chi Singers Coordinator, MHBQA